Feeder track and clearing wheel



July 31, 1962 J. w. BATCHELDER 3,047,113

FEEDER TRACK AND CLEARING WHEEL Filed July 11, 1960 INVENTOR. JAMES W. BATGHELDER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,947,118 FEEDER TRAQK AND CLEARWG WHEEL James W. Batchelder, Springfield, Vt, assignor to Tentron Inc, a corporation of Rhode Island Filed July 11, 1960, Sen No. 41,963 Claims. (Cl. 193-43) The present invention relates generally to the art of feeding parts or articles; and more in particular to track feeding mechanisms; and specifically to improvements in the combination of a feed track and rejection wheel ensuring the feeding of bolts or other headed objects to a discharge point in a proper orientation serially in soldiered array suspended by their heads on the track.

A great variety of feeding machines and devices are known to the prior art wherein headed objects or parts such as bolts, rivets, or parts of analogous form are delivered along a track suspended by their heads to a discharge point for successive discharge in like disposition as the feed to other machines for further operations, or for counting, packaging or the like. Well known to the prior art is the provision adjacent the track of a circumferentiaJly grooved and toothed or notched rotating rejecting or clearing wheel which clears from the track and rejects improperly positioned parts. Usually such a wheel is positioned to rotate in the vertical plane including the path of travel of the par-ts immediately adjacent thereto; and the cross section of the circumferential wheel edge 'groove is of such shape as to permit the heads of properly suspended pieces to pass thereunder, while a spaced circumferential series of edge notches provide teeth with impact faces to kick malpositioned parts from the track.

To further more effective wheel action, it has already been proposed that in the neighborhood of the wheel the track have a downward bend, so that malpositioned parts, particularly those moving along the track with axes disposed in the track plane or substantially so disposed, in passing over the bend or point of track inflection, are thereby exposed to more effective contact action by the wheel.

The present invention addresses itself particularly to track structure adapted 'to handle headed parts which readily assume and maintain a suspended orientation, but also those of relatively short shank length which by virtue of the relatively large head mass are more likely to move along the feed track without being suspended with shank dependent within the track structure, even though the axes thereof may be actually in the plane of the track. Where, for example, socket head cap screws are being fed, the circumferential groove has a rectangular shape to correspond with the elevational outline of the socket head and is relatively deep over its entire width. In consequence, short shank pieces of this character moving along the track improperly supported on the cylindrical head surface rather than underneath the head may pass under the wheel without rejection. Where such parts are being fed to a counting and packaging machine, an improperly positioned piece escaping under the wheel by virtue of its improper position may escape being counted, representing an overfeed to the package. Though this type of error obviously will present no problem with customer relations, on the other hand, with parts of high unit cost, such as socket head cap screws, over a period of time the error will represent a considerable loss to the manufacturer or packager. Also improperly positioned pieces, after passing a clearing wheel, may cause a parts jam at a subsequent operation, and therefor require continual attendance upon the machines involved.

By the present invention there is provided a novel arrangement and mutual disposition of the feed track and rejection wheel obviating the above discussed difiiculties. The present invention proposes that below the wheel,

that is, downstream of or on the discharge side of the wheel, a light restraining means be provided for decelerating parts moving on the track, whereby the parts just before the wheel and passing thereunder are caused to close up and come into contact with each other. The degree of the restraint is such that when a certain length or the group of parts in contact and feeding toward the wheel is initially established, the parts thereafter readily pass the restraining means, as it were under a static head, as further parts are continually fed to the closedup group.

With the parts closed up in this fashion in the region of the rejecting wheel, those properly suspended by their heads with shanks within the track structure readily pass as usual beneath the wheel. A part sliding on the cylindrical surface of the head is deflected by contact with the parts between which it is sandwiched either to drop the shank between the track members and thus come into proper position, or to have the shank or some other part of the piece cock up in such fashion that the piece either falls sideways off the usually beveled track or is brought into path of the toothed parts of the rotating wheel. In any event improperly positioned pieces are thus rejected by the described arrangement, and only properly oriented pieces move toward the discharge point. In the usual environment, the parts are rejected into a bin or auxiliary hopper returning the pieces to the mechanism loading the track.

In the specific form of the invention hereinafter disclosed the deceleration or restraint upon movement of the pieces in the region of rejection wheel is provided in the case of an inclined feed track by a wavy track portion, that is, by changing the slope of the track either to a more shallow slope or a short horizontal track portion beyond which the track is again more sharply inclined to accelerate the parts. It is to be understood however that other means may be utilized for thus restraining the pieces beneath or slightly beyond the rejection wheel to cause the pieces to close up into immediate contact as previously described, with the restraining means however permitting ready flow of the parts by virtue of an accumulation of others following along the higher reach of the track before the wheel.

The general object of the present invention is then the improvement of a rejection wheel and feed track combination to minimize feeding of improperly positioned parts, particularly parts such as socket head cap screws.

Mother object of the present invention is the provision, in a feed track and rejection wheel combination for feeding socket head cap screws and the like, of means to ensure feeding only of properly positioned pieces, yet which is adapted to feed short shank screws equally well with longer shank screws.

Another object is the provision of a simple expedient ensuring against feeding of improperly positioned parts past the rejection wheel in the feed track system. 1 Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description and the drawings of one embodiment ofthe invention and the drawings thereof, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view, showing in side elevation, the rejection wheel and the adjacent pontions of the feed track embodying one form of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line 22 in FIG. 1 and showing a socket head cap screw properly suspended in the track; and

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding generally to FIG. 2 but showing the disposition of a cap screw relative to the track and rejection wheel groove and notches, when the cap screw is riding on the cylindrical head surface, and so disposed to escape the action of the rejection wheel.

In the drawings there is shown in fragmentary form (see FIG, 1) a rotating rejection wheel W supported by drive shaft above and for rotation in the vertical center plane of a feed track, i.e., the plane of movement of parts adjacent the wheel.. The track comprises an upper reach or upper track portion 11 sloping down toward the wheel and a lower reach 12 more sharply inclined, witha wavy section therebetween. Means (not shown) for rotating the wheel, for bringing the pieces to be fed, such as the socket head cap screws P, onto the upper reach of the track, for causing the pieces to move along'the track as by vibrating the upper reach of the track in its plane, and for mounting the several structures and also their general mutual disposition, as such are old and may be those as described in detail in the prior Batchelder Patent 2,825,489 issued on March 4, 1958.

The upper :track structure 11 comprises the spaced track rail members 14, 14, on the top surfaces or edges of which the parts or cap screws P are supported under their heads withthe shanks dependent in a slot formed therebetween; the railmembers at'least over a portion of thetrack above t he wheel being outwardly downwardly beveled awayfrom the head supporting edges so that improperly positioned pieces may the more "readily fall away from the track before reaching the region'of the rejection Wheel. The rails are shown as having bolted to the outer faces side skirts 16 with over- 'lapping inward bottom flanges. These skirts form no part ofthe'present invention, but are merely means to 'i'riainstraight downward slope of the upper reach, so

that 'the part supporting surface rather abruptly curves and flattens out at 17 into a'short generally horizontal 's'e'c'tionbr length "in'the're'gion 18 immediately beneath the wheel, which then through an upwardly convex reg'ion "19 round down again to an increased slope merging into the'diretidn of'the top 'or head supporting surface "of the usuallystatidnary lower reach 12, the'lower reach "Iiere'being shown with a slope greaterthan that of the 'il'pper'reaches. 'Thel'ow'er "reach '12thus is offset from theje'nd of the straight slope portion of the upper reach fIljb'y andthrough 'a track hump or wave, which in 'itially "flattening out from the track upper reach ac- "eardingi slows 'down'parts in'theregion 17 to '19 and :i'estrainstheinmotion on the track, whether the pieces afe f ed simply by gravity and by'pressure of pieces above thebtfsetre'gion, say'with an upper'reach slope on the order erssz or by longitudinal orothe'r vibration of an iipper'reach'ofsmaller slope, e.g., of 20.

Thefofmofthe'rejection wheelW is generally that as known to v the prior art, having a circumferential grobve 20witha cross sectional shape'similar to that "of the "axialsection of a head of a part to be fed to provide aworkin'g clearance for the beads of parts passthereunder in proper'position; and it also has a cir- "cumferentiallyspaced set of notches deeper than the groove resulting in'rejection teeth 21, each with a FIG; 2 sh'ows' the general shape of the track groove 20 in relation to the head of a part to be fed such as "the 'socketyhead cap screw P and'relative to' the track rails I4with the part properly suspended thereon by its headfWith shank dependent between the rails 14.

FIG. 3, generally similar to FIG. 2,' illustrates a condition "which may occur particularly in the case of V 4, socket head cap screws with relatively short shanks, where a high center of gravity 'allowsdhe'cap'screwto be supported on the track edges on the cylindrical surface of the head. In such case becauseof the breadth of the groove carried in practically to its full depth as dictated by the shape of "the cap screw head, with a normal track passing under the wheel with no decrease in slope, the piece may itself pass under the wheel through the groove as is obvious in FIG. "3 and thus escape rejection despite its improper'position.

However in consequence of restraint and deceleration by the track formation in the region 17, 18, 19, as"above described in the region beneath the track'rejection wheel, parts initially coming down the upper reach of thetrack slow up when they reach the wavy-region, on starting up.

feeding operations may even come to a stop, 'an'dfollowing pieces then close up against preceding'pieces a closed-up array extending upstrearn'beyond the wheel as indicated in 'FIG. 1. Further pieces being continually added to the closed up array on the upper reach'o'f the track 11 then provide pressure causing the foremost parts to 'pass on over the hump or the region of zero slope. thus close up, fast discharge-is nonetheless attainedbelow or downstream of the rejection wheel overthe lower reach 12.

'With the parts generally closed up in the region represented by FIG. 1, any piece coming down the'track in a position or disposition, such as that represented by 'FIG. 3, upon'comin'g in contact with a preceding piece and particularly upon contact therewith by a following piece, is cocked off the'tr'ack' sideways 'to'rolloff the bevel; or has its shank deflected downwardly between'the track rails '14 into-proper suspended disposition ofthe whole piece; or has the shank or other portion cocked upwardly into the path of teeth of the rotating clearing wheel to'be thrown out of the track. Thus inthe'combination and arrangement here shown it is ensured that only properly positioned pieces will pass 'throughthe rejection wheel region'to the lower feed track.

The above'disclosed form and shape-of thetrack in 'the'region of therejection wheel' gener'ally otters means proved means for ensuring against discharge of improperly positionedpieces comprising: a said feed track adapted to support 'partsbeing fedthereon suspended by'their heads with shanks dependent in the .feed'track structure,

a toothed and circumferentially grooved clearing wheel rotatable in the plane of the'feed'track withan edge of the Wheel proximate to the tra'ckand adapted'toperm'it properly suspen'ded'parts to pass thereunder on the'track,

and means associated with the track adapted'to' apply locally in the region of the wheel a force lightlyrestraining parts against force inducing movement of parts under the wheel, thereby to cause succeeding parts to' form a closed-up array of parts'moving toward and under the wheel.

rejection wheel rotating in the plant of the'feed track with an edge-of the wheel proximate to theltrackadapted to permit properly suspended parts to pass thereunderon the track, and means associated with thetrack and-acting locally on parts in the track on the dischargeside of the With steady full feed although the parts may wheel to decelerate the same, thereby to cause succeeding parts to form a closed-up array of parts moving toward and under the wheel.

3. The improved means as described in claim 2, wherein: said feed track comprises an upper reach inclined downwardly toward said Wheel and, oifset from the upper reach a more sharply inclined lower reach; and a track section leading from the upper reach to lower reach having beneath the wheel a portion of lower slope providing said means for decelerating the parts.

4. In a track type feeder structure adapted for feeding headed parts and particularly socket head cap screws and the like with heads suspended on top surfaces of and shank portions dependent within a slot formation of the track structure: a downwardly inclined upper track reach, an inclined lower track reach, a track portion leading from the lower end of the upper reach to the upper end of the lower reach and including a short region of substantially Zero slope, and a toothed rotatable rejection wheel having a circumferential groove of cross section similar to and providing operating clearance relative to the heads of pieces suspended in the track structure, said wheel being disposed for rotation above and in the plane of said track with the wheel edge proximate to in the region of substantially zero slope of said track portion.

5. In a track type feeder structure adapted for feeding headed parts and particularly socket head cap screws and the like with heads suspended on top surfaces of and shank portions dependent within a slot formation of the track structure; a downwardly inclined upper track reach, more sharply inclined lower track reach, a track portion leading from the lower end of the upper reach to the upper end of the lower reach and including a short region of markedly lower sloped than that of the upper reach, and a toothed clearing wheel having a circumferential groove of cross section similar to and providing operating clearance relative to the heads of pieces suspended in the track structure; said wheel being disposed for rotation above said track with the wheel edge proximate to the said region of markedly lower slope.

Clark Feb. 13, 1923 Anderson Nov. 21, 1950 

